a baseball card celebration of the dodgers and the infield of my youth.

29 June 2014

sunday morning target dodgers

time for another sheet of cards from the set that keeps on giving - the 1990 target dodger stadium giveaway set. as always, thanks to baseball reference for providing some information about some of these heretofore unknown to me players.

don demeter

demeter's first major league hit came in his second big league at bat, and it was a home run off of don liddle of the cardinals in september of 1956. demeter only appeared in three games that season for the dodgers, but he returned to the majors in 1958 and stayed with the dodgers until he was traded to the phillies early in the 1961 season. in 1959, he hit three home runs in a game agains the giants - one was an inside the park job, and the third one was a walk-off.

jack dunn

dunn was a pitcher who also played in the field from time to time. he entered the big leagues with the brooklyn bridegrooms in 1897 and remained with the franchise until he went to the phillies during the 1900 season. he hit .238 in his 3-plus seasons for brooklyn, but also won 56 games, including 23 in 1899. dunn later replaced hughie jennings as the manager of the baltimore orioles in the eastern league, and actually became the team's owner a couple of years later. they moved to the international league, and dunn led them to seven straight titles.

lee grissom

grissom pitched six seasons for the reds, culminating in a world series appearance against the yankees in 1939. the reds lost, but grissom must have made an impression on new york as he was traded to the yankees in january of 1940. he appeared in five games for the defending world champions, pitching 4.2 scoreless innings, before he was claimed on waivers by the dodgers. with brooklyn the rest of the way, grissom went 2-5 despite a 2.81 era, and he threw a 2-hit shutout against the phillies on the final day of the season. in 1941, he pitched in four games for the dodgers and had an era of 2.38, but was traded to the phillies.

danny heep

heep was the guy the mets received when they traded mike scott to the astros, straight up, in 1982. a lopsided trade in hindsight, but heep did help the mets win the world series in 1986, so it wasn't all bad. following his triumph in 1986, heep signed with the dodgers and played for them in 1987 and 1988. he was used mostly as a pinch hitter but also made starts at first base and in the outfield. he even got to pitch in a game during the 1988 season - he threw two innings against the astros in july, giving up a 2-run homer to ken caminiti in the process. he had some pinch hit appearances in the 1988 postseason for the eventual world champion dodgers, and served as the dh in game 4 of the world series.

burt hooton

happy hooton was the mvp of the 1981 nlcs as he won both of his starts against the expos without allowing an earned run. he joined the dodgers in 1975 and remained a fixture in the rotation through the 1983 season. in 1984, he spent most of his time pitching out of the bullpen and left the dodgers for the rangers prior to the 1985 campaign. as a dodger, however, hooton won 112 games with a 3.14 era, and he nearly wrecked this fan's shoulder thanks to my trying to throw a knuckle-curve like hooton.

johnny hopp

target gave hopp an extra 'n' in his name there. hopp was involved in the 1949 trade with the pirates that sent marv rackley to pittsburgh, but was voided a few days later. as a result, rackley became a double dipper, and hopp only appeared in 8 games for the dodgers. in those games, he was held hitless in 14 at bats. maybe burt shotton had the trade voided due to hopps' performance.

ken landreaux

landreaux is best remembered by me and many other dodger fans for catching the final out of the 1981 world series. he was also the main guy that the twins received from the angels in the rod carew trade prior to the 1979 season. two years later, the dodgers acquired landreaux for mickey hatcher and a couple of minor leaguers. landreaux spent seven seasons with the dodgers, most of which were spent as the team's regular center fielder.

ken mcmullen

i've told mcmullen's story before so i won't rehash it here. suffice it to say that the pride of oxnard has had a big impact on dodger team collectors, thanks to his rookie card companion.

judge mccreedie

mccreedie (baseball reference spells his name 'mccredie') was an outfielder for the 1903 brooklyn superbas. he hit .324 in 56 games for brooklyn before he was traded to baltimore in july. somewhat curiously, he never made it back to the major leagues. in 1904, he found himself in portland playing in their pacific coast league team that wound eventually be known as the beavers. in 1905, judge took the reins and became their player/manager, a role he held through the 1913 season after which he gave up playing and was just their manager (save for a couple of appearances in 1916 and 1917). in all, he spent 20 years managing in the pacific coast league, most of which was spent in portland. he is a member of the pcl hall of fame.

simmy murch

murch played in 6 games for the 1908 brooklyn superbas following a couple of seasons with the cardinals. he hit .182 with a double while playing first base in his stint with brooklyn, his last in the major leagues.

boots poffenberger

poffenberger obviously played for the tigers - he did so in 1937 and 1938 - but the dodgers claimed him on waivers at the start of the 1939 season. for brooklyn, boots (real name cletus) pitched in three games, including one as a starter. he had no record and an era of 5.40 in those appearances. and yes, this boots was made for walking - he walked two of the four batters he faced in his dodger debut.

craig shipley

shipley became the second australian (and first in over 100 years) to debut in the major leagues when he appeared in a game for the 1986 dodgers. he hit .111 in 12 games for the blue, and returned in 1987 to hit .257 in 26 contests. the dodgers traded him to the mets, and he later found success playing for the padres and working in the front office for the red sox.

dwain sloat

aka lefty sloat. he pitched in four games for the 1948 dodgers, including one as the starter. he was 0-1 with an era over 6. he was claimed by the cubs in the rule v draft prior to the 1949 season and did not return to brooklyn.

alex trevino

in a rare trade with the giants, the dodgers acquired trevino in exchange for candy maldonado prior to the 1986 season. trevino spent the '86 and '87 seasons with the dodgers, playing catcher behind mike scioscia. he received some significant playing time for a backup, appearing in 161 games over his two seasons with the club.

dazzy vance

hall of famer dazzy vance had two stints with the brooklyn franchise, so you know what that means…

let's trade

click it - you will be rewarded! for trading, not clicking.

let's trade, part 2

i collect dodgers cards, any and all cards featuring steve garvey, ron cey, dave lopes or bill russell, all topps cards of the players who were featured in the 1978 topps set as dodgers, cards featuring dodger stadium, o-pee-chee variations, cards showing memorial patches and/or armbands, and cards showing the double play turn at second base. i am also currently working on my 1971 topps set. i have a lot of cards to trade!